The Biggest Misconceptions of a Career in Event Planning
For many people, a career in the events industry sounds like a dream come true. After all, event planners get behind-the-scenes access to the nation’s biggest concerts, exhibitions, product launches, seminars, conferences, and much more. Plus, event planners get to play with the latest gadgets and live their lives under the bright lights.
What a life! Or is it? If you’re considering a career in event planning, we’re here to tell you that while it’s certainly an amazing career that’s filled with excitement and opportunity… it may not be quite what you imagine. These are some of the biggest misconceptions of a career in event planning (that you need to take note of, before you jump in).
Event Planners are Bigshots
The person in charge of the biggest events in town, must also be incredibly admired and respected by everyone around, right? While it’s true that an event planner has a crucially important role in putting an event together - while on the job, an event planner is known as more of an “organiser”, than a “general”.
As an event planner, you have to respect the wishes of your client (or boss) and execute the event according to their wishes, not yours.
Event Planners Travel the World
While this is true for some event planners, travelling for overseas events really isn’t as glamourous as you may think. First of all, you’re travelling for work – which means that you’ll be spending most of your time at the event venue, and not at the beach or exciting shopping districts.
Also, putting on a good show in a foreign country is lot more challenging and stressful than organising an event from the comfort of home (here all your trusted suppliers, venue providers, and performers are).
Event Planners are Rolling in Cash!
Unless you own a successful events management company, you’re probably not going to be driving to work in a Ferrari (or anything even remotely close).
Most event planners are employees, just like everyone else. In fact, with the number of hours event planners put into their work (especially in the lead up to, and during events), they may earn less per hour than their peers in other professions.
Event Planners are In-Charge of Huge Budgets
For most event planners, managing a truly “big budget” event is a dream come true. Unfortunately, the reality is that most events come with tight budgets – and part of an event planner’s job is to balance the need for putting on an amazing event, with budgetary constraints.
Event Planners Have Exciting Careers, 24/7
Have you sat through an industry conference, barely able to keep your eyes open because the speakers were boring and you weren’t interested in the topics being discussed? (Or perhaps you remember these occasions from your days in your school classroom.) For many event planners, “boring” events are their bread and butter.
And unlike your days in school, if you’re in-charge of an event, you’d better be awake and paying attention to every detail that’s going on – even if the event speakers have spent the last six hours giving presentations on molecular science, and you’re bored to tears.
But at the End of the Day… It’s Still an Awesome Career
The life of an event planner may not be as star-studded, or filled with riches, or as exciting as people outside the industry may believe – but it’s still a fantastic career that’s full of challenge and fun.
And with advancements in mobile event apps, virtual reality and streaming technologies, the opportunities are only going to get more exciting. So if you have your sights set on a career in events, give it a shot! We hope your journey will be as rewarding as ours have been, and continues to be.
